


10 Song Challenge - Batman Rogues Gallery

by Quick5TheGuy



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Anti-Hero, Challenge Response, One Shot Collection, Songfic, Villains, why did i think this was a good idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 11:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17181848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quick5TheGuy/pseuds/Quick5TheGuy
Summary: My take on the 10-Song Challenge, with each one-shot focusing on a member of Batman's rogues gallery. I don't know why I thought this was a good idea but here we are. Enjoy.





	10 Song Challenge - Batman Rogues Gallery

**Ten Thousand Fists - Disturbed**

Some would say that anarchy and chaos went together like peanut butter and jelly. Anarky preferred to think of it more like chocolate and nuts. One was good, and the other was a good compliment, but not necessary.

As he watched his followers tear Gotham apart, he could confirm that the two went together well.

The regime the lorded over the common folk’s power was waning. He could feel it. No matter how strong the barrier was, enough force can strike it down. They would remember the night that ten thousand fists raised high declared “NO MORE” and revolted. 

**Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen**

Was this real? Or was it fantasy?

Arnold didn’t know anymore. The distinction between the two was fading into nothingness faster than he was comfortable with. 

Arnold didn’t even realize the man was dead until it was too late. Was it him? Or was it...Him? Did He even exist? They kept telling him he didn’t, but he know He did. It wasn’t him who killed, but Him. He forced Arnold to. But then...that meant he did kill.

Arnold had to fall in. To face the music. To own up to His actions. But were they his actions or His actions? Who was He? The one guiding Arnold down this path?

Who’s to say? Nothing really matters. Nothing really matters to Him, after all.

**Tubthumping - Chumbawamba**

Another night, another failed attempt to make a profit.

Killer Moth had tried robbing a string of jewelry stores. He had tried to be quiet, he really had. One of the owners just had to trip the silent alarm and throw his whole plan for a loop. 

It was pure dumb luck he’d managed to get away. Batman himself must have been occupied, as one of his Bat-Pack had shown up instead. As it turned out, a local frat house had decided to host one of their infamous parties that night and he’d managed to slip away in the crowd. 

Now he was drowning his sorrows in booze and shouting. The fraternity didn’t seem to mind him. In fact, the partying had helped lift his spirits considerably.

He got knocked down, but he’d get up again. Not even Batman could keep him down for long. He would never stay down. Never! Just as soon as he could see straight again, he’d go back out there and finish the job! Never mind the boy perched on the roof outside, he was ready!

**The Mountain - Three Days Grace**

The higher you go, the harder you fall. The old adage was true, as Firefly could confirm, time and time again.

Every time he thinks he’d reached the top he finds himself lying on the ground, staring up at the same mask. He could burn down half of Gotham in a single night and still find himself in the exact same place he started. The city had a remarkable talent for rebuilding, he could give them that much.

When he got out of Arkham next he would start all over again even though, deep down, he knew he’d just end up back in his cell one way or another. But it was the climb that’s always the most fun, right?

**Breaking the Habit - Linkin Park**

How does he find himself in these messes? It’s the eternal question. The one the Riddler simply can’t admit he knows the answer to. He does everything right and still loses. But that’s not true. He knows it, as does everyone else. Unfortunately, ego wins out over logic more often than he’d care to admit.

Why can’t he just not leave a clue for Batman? Why can’t he just take the money and run? Why? Why? Why? Why does he willingly orchestrate his own downfall time and time again?

That’s the kind of riddle where the answer is hidden right under your nose.

**Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel**

All Johnny wanted was a score. That’s all he wanted. He’d made a name for himself with petty robbery and car theft. All he wanted was a slightly bigger income than usual.

What he didn’t want was to find himself caught in a firefight between a clown and a midget, and intermixed with it all, a mask-wearing flying rat swooping down in all the chaos. 

Lunacy on one end, mania on the other, and here he was, stuck in the middle. Some life this was. Why did he think joining a gang in Gotham was a good idea? But that one moment of a promised paycheck has been enough to drive men to do insane things. 

Johnny was really missing sticking up convenience stores.

**Walk on Water - 30 Seconds to Mars**

“What am I doing?”

That simple question felt like a lead weight. Of course, Bane was more than capable of carrying weights, but this one felt particularly heavy.

He’d been hunting Batman for so long that it only just occurred to him that he’d forgotten why he’d started in the first place. Why should he continue? He’d beaten him once, yes, but that was ages ago. Batman had changed and adapted.

Did Bane really believe he could win this fight he’d started? Did he even know what he was fighting for? No. No, he really didn’t. 

**Every Breath You Take - The Police**

She was his, and his alone. That fact was indisputable, for the Creeper had said it, and therefore, was true. Who could argue with that? Certainly not him.

And what a fact it was, on display at every moment he watched her. The gorgeous clown was making her way down the street, shopping bags in hand, chattering about the far-less-gorgeous clown with the walking tulip. He wasn’t in that very flattering costume of hers, instead wearing perfectly average attire. So boring. She ought to stand out. 

But that didn’t matter. She was his, and any who disputed that was simply wrong. They could debate, of course, but they would lose. Painfully.

In fact, it looked like some average joe wanted to debate that right now, as he waltzed up to the gorgeous clown and started chatting with her. 

That would simply not do.

**Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp**

Selina’s relationships were complicated to say the least. Most couples don’t go on semi-nightly rooftop chases with one determined to incarcerate the other.

But that’s what made it fun.

It occurred to her, in talks with street-level friends and over the internet, that sometimes love didn’t feel like it “should.” But what was is supposed to feel like? Nobody could really decide.

Even so, Selina knew it wasn’t normal. Probably very painful compared to most relationships. But then again, that all added to the appeal for her, and she could only assume it did for him as well. 

It hurt so good, and that’s what she loved about it.

**Paradise City - Guns N’ Roses**

Gotham was a paradise. 

That was a sentence rarely uttered with any amount of sincerity. But the Joker meant it wholeheartedly. It had everything. It had great views, great food, great architecture, and you wouldn’t find more interesting people anywhere else! That much was undeniable.

But above all, Gotham was his home. Sure, he’d burn it down in a heartbeat if he thought the joke would work, but in those ashes, he would build himself a house if he had to. He’s made so many great memories in Gotham, and wouldn’t give them up for the nuclear launch codes.

As he breathed in that smoggy, rotten air and gazed down on the neon-lit streets of his home his smile grew wider. Truly, he was living the good life. And to think, just...how long ago was it? He couldn’t remember, but he remembered it like it was yesterday, he was just a lowly thug hired for petty robbery and theft. Now he was the king of Gotham, sitting on a throne of dynamite and madness. 

His smile, somehow, grew even wider as he flicked the detonator and watched the high rise before him crumble. Soon, the cops would be scrambling and bats would be swarming. In what other cities can you claim that?


End file.
